Men’s, women’s tennis go undefeated this week

By Kathleen Ortiz     3/5/24 10:32pm

The men’s and women’s tennis squads each played one match this past weekend and both came away with wins. The women competed against No. 69 University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas on March 1, while the men took on the United States Air Force Academy at home on March 2.

The women traveled out west to play UNLV on their first day and Northern Arizona on their second day, but windy conditions led to the cancellation of the Northern Arizona match. The conditions were already windy on day one, but Rice was able to sweep their ranked opponent nonetheless.

“It was a solid team win today,” head coach Elizabeth Schmidt said. “Conditions were tough with the wind but our team really embraced the challenge and played solid, focused tennis.”

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In the doubles matches, graduate student Chie Kezuka and senior Federica Trevisan won their top-court match 6-3, while junior Saara Orav and sophomore Darya Schwartzman won their match on the second court by the same score.

Singles matches were won by Kezuka on court four, Schwartzman on court two and freshman Divna Ratkovic on court three. These wins allowed Rice to defeat UNLV 4-0 and achieve their third sweep of the season. This was the team’s second sweep over a ranked opponent.

The women returned home to face off against Sam Houston State University, sweeping them 4-0 on Tuesday.

The men came back to Houston after the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic and came away with a 6-1 win against Air Force.

On courts one and three, respectively, senior Yasha Zemel and sophomore Kabeer Kapasi won their match 6-3 while juniors Arthus de la Bassetiere and Eduardo Morais won 6-4.

“A solid doubles point; early on, it was pretty neck and neck but I love the fact that the threes jumped to a really strong start,” head coach Efe Ustundag said. “It put some early pressure on the other side.”

The team continued to dominate in singles, with wins at the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth courts. These wins led to the final score of 6-1 against Air Force.

“It felt like every opportunity we had, we took, which gave us the lead,” Ustundag said. “In singles, I was really happy with a quick 1-2-3 punch. We had a battle at their place last year, so it was good to host them back here and I’m happy with the results.”

The women compete against Sam Houston State University and Southern Methodist University this upcoming week, while the men will have their next matches over spring break on the road against No. 75 University of California, Santa Barbara March 11 and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo March 14.

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